HOPE4U suicide prevention network held its fourth annual Hope Walk on Saturday to raise awareness about suicide and break the stigma.
The Hope Walk took place on Saturday, February 15, and attendees met at the Richmond Tennis Courts and walked along Ham Common to the Hawkesbury Information Centre, opposite the RAAF base at Clarendon.
Organiser Diane Russell, a Richmond resident, said the event's purpose is twofold - to raise awareness and break the stigma of suicide, and to show support for those who have lost a loved one to suicide.
Ms Russell lost her son, Jason, to suicide in 2015. He was 31, and left behind a wife and family.
"[The Hope Walk] is about you, me and our community supporting and strengthening each other from our grief of suicide," Ms Russell told the Gazette in the lead-up to the 2020 Hope Walk.
"Don't let their suicide be ignored. It's a death that is out of control."
